Eugene Forsey's wit and wisdom are a legacy for the common good.
Eugene Alfred Forsey (1904-1991) was one of Canada's foremost constitutional experts and a provocative voice for social justice and the common good. Legendary for his sharp wit and high principle, he brought encyclopedic knowledge, irascible tenacity and common sense to the causes of democracy, justice, and equality for all. Those themes resound through this book, and resonate strongly in the Canada of today.
Forsey never managed to obediently toe a party line. Raised a Conservative, he converted to social democracy as a young academic in the 1930s. He spent the following decades working for the labour movement and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF, now the New Democratic Party) and calling governments to account in speeches, articles, and pithy letters-to-the-editor. From 1970 to 1979, he sat in the Senate as a Trudeau Liberal, but soon afterwards resumed his more natural role as non-partisan critic and gadfly.
In labour halls, university classrooms, broadcasting studios, and the Senate chamber, Forsey entertained even as he educated. So, too, does this account of his works and life, which blends the personal and the political to provide a rich resource for Canadians facing the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Helen Forsey, like her father, Eugene, is a social activist and writer who worked overseas with CUSO and other international voluntary organizations. An ardent feminist and environmentalist, she winters in Ompah, Ontario, and summers at Pouch Cove, Newfoundland.
About the Author: Helen Forsey, like her father, Eugene, is a social activist and writer. She studied agriculture at McGill University, then worked in international co-operation and public education in Canada and overseas. Her writing and activism focus on feminist, environmental, political, and constitutional issues. As well as numerous articles, her work includes two other books: Circles of Strength: Community Alternatives to Alienation (New Society, 1993) and The Caboose at the Cape: A Story of Coming Home (DRC, 2011). A mother and grandmother, she divides her time between the Ottawa Valley and her father's homeland of Newfoundland.
